A Bounty on Spike Spiegel
by Voyevoda3203
Summary: There's a bounty on Spike's head and Faye's the one who's gonna get it no matter what. This is set before Spike, Faye, Jet, and Ed even knew each other. Not too far back though. Only a few years in the past. Anyways, this is my first CB fic. *Chap 2 up!*
1. A Bounty on Spike Spiegel

Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop in any way. Don't sue me. 

A.N. This is my first CB fan fic. I've always read the stories and I watch the anime from time to time, and I'm pretty sure that I can portray them the way they really are in the cartoon. I haven't seen the full season from episode one yet. So please spare me any mistakes that I make in reference to the cartoon, and I'll probably be making up some things as I go along. Thanks! Also, this fic is set before Spike and Faye knew each other so they're just a tad younger than they are in the series. Just something FYI. I don't know if it's really going to turn out as a S+F fic, but I like them a lot. I'll try to steer away from that story line since everybody goes for it. If not, don't sue me. 

It had started like any other day for Faye Valentine. Wake up, get dressed, head out to the race tracks. It seemed like that's all she ever did anymore. That's all that she had to do. She knew nobody in this strange place, no friends, not one familiar face. All the familiar faces were dead. 

She tried to make the most of what she had with her new life. But there wasn't much she could do outside of gambling and fighting for scraps of food everyday. 

__

I wonder if the old Faye was exactly the same...

Faye thought about it for a second, then shrugged, pulling out her carton of cigarettes. She carelessly popped one in her mouth, sucking on it for a few seconds before she lit it. 

Sighing, she strode up to place a bet. "I'll give you 5,000 woo longs for horse number five," Faye said, looking at the name. "Valentine." There had to be some luck in that, right?

__

Well, luck's never really on my side, Faye thought for a second. 

The man handed Faye her ticket and she handed him the cash. She looked up at the large television screen just as the horses went off. Valentine was in the lead for most of the race. Faye's heart sped up. Maybe, just maybe she would actually win a bet. "Go, Valentine, go!" Faye screamed, unable to hold back her excitement. She clutched her ticket, crumbling the paper. 

__

"It's Valentine in the lead with Shangshaw right at his heels," the announcer said, his voice ringing through out the stadium. _"This looks like it's gonna be a close one," _he continued. Faye's heart stopped as she saw another horse, Shangshaw, advance to the lead. "No!" Faye cried out. "No!" she exclaimed as the horses crossed the finish line. She continued to stare at the television screen, not believing that she had just blown 5,000 woo longs on a stupid horse with her last name. She took one last drag from her cigarette butt and threw it to the ground along with her ticket. 

"Tough luck," the man standing behind the ticket counter commented. He was trying to be nice, but it really wasn't helping. 

"Luck?" Faye spat out. "What the hell's that?" 

Faye walked around the empty stadium an hour after the race had ended. There really wasn't anywhere to go. She had no money and she barely even has an apartment. She was surprised that she hadn't been evicted from it yet. 

"Hey!" she heard a man exclaim to another man. The two were walking in front of her talking rapidly to each other. "Did you hear about the latest bounty?"

The other man nodded his head. "Yeah. Two million woo longs on this guy. I've never seen a bounty that high. I'd hate to be that man."

The two walked off. 

Faye stopped in her tracks and ran over to the men, trying to catch up. "Excuse me!" Faye said. "What were you saying about a bounty?" Both men turned around.

The one man whistled a bit, looking Faye up and down. The other just gawked. 

"You mean you haven't heard?" he said. "A man named Spike Spiegel is wanted for hacking into one of the galaxies most exclusive organizations, the Red Devil Government. I guess he got some bad dirt on them and they're willing to pay anybody who catches him...dead or alive."

"Well, where was he last seen?" Faye demanded, growing impatient. This was the offer of a lifetime. 

The larger man of the two took a step forward. "Sorry, little lady. I gave you some free info. Anything else, you have to pay a price." He cracked his knuckles. And walked closer to her.

"You wouldn't hurt a poor innocent girl, now would you?" Faye asked innocently, taking a step backwards. She crossed her arms over her chest, fingering her gun in her holster. 

"That's exactly what we're gonna do," he replied. He reached out for her. 

In an instant, Faye grabbed her gun from the holster and dodged him, grabbing his chunky arm and pinning it behind his back. She brought the gun up to the nape of his neck, daring him or his friend to move. Her emerald eyes glared coldly at the other man. "You wanna try your luck on me? I have two guns, you know...."

He didn't respond. 

"Now, tell me where this Spike is...I have a bounty I need to catch." 

"Mars, here I come," Faye said to herself as she boarded her ship. This bounty was too good to pass up. All that money they were offering was more than enough to pay off her debts. 

She thought about the idea of actually killing somebody. She's never killed anyone in her life. She's only 19, really over 80 though, and she's never been on a hunting spree. Shopping was more her thing. 

Faye's thoughts wandered as the flew across the monotonous paths of space. She thought of Spike Spiegel. He was around 23 years old. He had brown eyes, one of which was fake, and a mop of green hair. He was around 6'4 or so and is known to pilot the Red Tail. That's what the man told her anyways. He had better not be lying. 

__

"Expected arrival time for Mars, 2 minutes," Faye's ship bleeped. Faye steered towards the large red planet, squinting through the red fog. "I can't see a damn thing," she muttered to herself. She steered blindly through the heavy atmosphere of the planet, struggling on seeing where the ground was. Suddenly the fog cleared and the landscape around her was dry deserted land...well, almost deserted. There was a lone building on the side of the long stretch of road. It looked pretty run down, but when she spotted the words "Joe's Tavern," on the side, she knew luck was on her side. 

"Maybe I can get used to all this luck," Faye muttered as she parked her ship. She quickly got off and strode to the bar, ignoring the stares and whistles she got from the local pigs.

She took a seat at the stool nearest to the bathroom, but making sure that she can have a perfect view of everyone who walked in and out of the bar. 

"What can I get you, beautiful?" the bartender asked while he was wiping a glass clean. 

"I'll have a coke with rum...easy on the coke, heavy on the rum." 

"You got it," he said, grabbing a bottle of rum. When he was finished making her drink, he handed it to her. 

Faye took the drink and took a sip of it, deciding if it was to her liking. It wasn't that bad...could use more rum though. 

__

Let's not forget why we're here in the first place, Faye's mind told her. She hated it when it did that. 

"Excuse me," she said to the bartender. "I was wondering if you've seen a man named Spike Spiegel around these parts of Mars. About 6'4, 23 years old, green hair." She waited for his response. 

"Well, I know of Spike. Everyone around these parts talk about him. As a matter of fact, there he is right now." The bartender pointed.

__

Damn. Why do you have to make it so obvious? Faye just nodded and looked around the bar, observing the people around her, trying to act cool. 

Then she spotted him. A man with the exact same description as Spike. It had to be him..how many guys go walking around with green hair? 

He was sitting at a table with about 7 empty glasses in front of him. Clumsily, he lifted his hand, signaling for the bartender to bring him another drink. 

Faye's heart began to race. What should she do now? This was her first bounty hunt...she wondered if it was going to be dangerous. _With 2 million woo longs on his head, I would think that he is. _

Faye was just about to get up from her seat, but Spike got up first. She observed where he was going. He stumbled to the men's bathroom...actually, he stumbled into the ladies room.

Faye downed the rest of her drink and slapped the glass on the table. She threw some bills on the counter and stood up, following him cautiously.

Faye waited a few seconds before entering the bathroom, trying to get her head straight. She mentally counted to three and walked into the bathroom carefully. She walked over to the sink and peeked under the stalls, hoping to spot his feet. He wasn't under any one of the stalls.

Faye stood up confused and heard a gun click behind her. "I suggest that you either use the can or get the hell out of here," a deep voice said behind her. His voice practically growled at her. 

Faye swallowed the lump in her throat. She slowly turned around, emerald orbs meeting brown mismatched ones. "What do you think you're doing pointing that gun at me?" Faye asked, her temper starting to get a hold of her. She didn't like this guys tone of voice and she hated bring told what to do most of all. "Why do you think I came in here in the first place?" she asked. She tried to play it cool. But for some reason, his stare made her feel incredibly uneasy. It was like he was reading her. 

Faye took a step to try and get around him, but he side stepped so she couldn't get around. 

Her anger was rising fast, and she was trying her best to get out of here alive without using her gun. 

"Move the hell out of my way, you stupid lunkhead," Faye said. She crossed her arms. "I didn't do anything to you." 

Without a word from him, he reached inside her red jacket and pulled her gun out of her holster.

"Wha-!" Faye exclaimed. She tried to grab it back, but he extended h is long arm out of her reach. 

"You call this 'doing nothing?'" he asked. "It's not every lady who carries a gun with her." 

"Well, I'm not 'every lady'," Faye said. "And what's with you? I thought you were supposed to be drunk." 

All she got was a smirk. 

The taller man placed her gun into his empty holster and lowered his gun from her face. "Just what exactly are you?" he asked. "You can't be a bounty hunter...you're too young."

Faye scoffed. "Excuse me!? I'm older than I look, Spike." She instantly regretted saying his name. 

"Christ!" Spike smirked. "You are a bounty hunter then? What's the deal? There's other guys waiting outside for me? The ol' ambush routine?" 

Faye didn't say anything. 

Spike placed his own gun into the other holster and turned to walk away. "You want my advise, kid? Always carry two guns." He strode slowly over to the door.

Faye reached behind her back and grabbed her extra gun that was hidden in the back of her shorts. "Thanks for the advise, but I don't need it," she said to Spike as she cocked her gun. 

Spike slowed his strode down and finally stopped. 

"Get against the wall." she demanded. 

He didn't move. 

"Get the fuck against the wall!" Faye ordered more loudly. 

Spike turned around slowly and...he had yet another smirk on his face! Faye just wanted to smack that look off of him at that very second. Instead of moving to the wall like Faye said, he grabbed a cigarette from his pocket and placed it in his mouth. He lit it a second later. 

Discouraged that he wasn't listening to her, Faye walked over to him instead slowly. She reached into his holsters and grabbed her original gun along with his. She placed them back in hers, and patted him down, searching for another gun. She stood back up and pointed the gun at his face.

"Geez, kid, you know I could kill you even without a gun." Spike's cigarette bobbed up and down as he spoke, distracting Faye for a slight second. 

That slight second was all he needed. With lightning quick speed, he grabbed one gun from her holster, at the same time grabbing her free arm, twisting it and pinning it behind her. He pointed his gun at her temple while she leaned back against him and reached up, pointing her gun under his chin. 

Faye was breathing hard from the adrenaline running through her veins...for some reason, this was exciting for her. It was something totally different from her normal routine. Maybe she should become a permanent bounty hunter...

__

Let's get out of this sticky situation first, she told herself. _Then we can think about career goals._

"What are you gonna do?" Spike taunted her. "I bet this is your fist bounty. It has to be. You're too inexperienced to be a professional for sure." Spike tightened his grip on her slender arm, bending it back farther. 

Faye winced, but didn't show her pain. She just tightened her grip on her gun even more. "You know, they don't care if you're dead or alive. I can kill you at this moment and get my money."

Spike chuckled. "Now, what good would that money do if I kill you first?" he asked. He lifted her arm up further, daring to go up higher.

"What the hell are you doing? You're gonna break my arm!" Faye struggled against him, wincing once again. She could feel the bone about to snap. Faye closed her eyes, but then looked at Spike's side. He was unguarded there. It would require her to give up her one advantage though. Oh well. She needed to take a chance. 

Faye took her arm with the gun in it and brought her hand down in between his legs. Unfortunately, she missed her desired target by a few inches, as he tried to dodge away at the last second. Still, he doubled forward in a bit of pain. 

Faye spun around and held the gun up to his face as he did to her. 

It was yet another face off. 

"So, have you decided on what you're going to do?" Spike asked, his gaze never fazing. 

A twinkle lit up in Faye's eyes and she smiled. "Yep." She lowered her gun, aiming at his leg. She pulled the trigger. 

Spike bent over, clutching his leg, letting his gun slide to the floor. "You-you whore!" he exclaimed. 

Faye couldn't see where exactly where she had hit him because he covered up the wound, but she could see blood on the floor. 

Faye strolled up to him. "So sorry Spike," she said, approaching him, letting her guard down. She extended her hand out and caressed his face. "This was way to easy and it was only my first bounty!" 

Spike looked at her scornfully. "Fine. I give up. Just please don't shoot me again." 

Faye took a step closer to him. "I don't know. I decided that I don't like you, so I have no use for you besides the bounty on your head." She pointed the gun at him once more at point-blank range. 

"Any last words, oh great Spike Spiegel?"

"Yeah," Spike said. He stood up at full height, letting his wound go. Faye looked down at his leg. 

"Shit," she muttered as realization dawned on her.

"It was only a graze," he finished. He simply held out his hand. 

Faye scowled and handed her gun over to him along with the other still tucked away in her holster.

"Now what am I to do with you?" he asked himself, mocking her tone of voice. He walked circles around her until he was facing her back. "I decided that I don't like you so...." He reached up and brought the gun down on her head.

Everything went black.

~A.N.~ So, this was the first chapter of my newest fic. Was it horrible, was it good? Please let me know because everybody needs criticism. Find out what happens in Chapter 2! 


	2. Chicken

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or any of the characters. So take your lawsuits and give them to people who really deserve them. In another words, don't sue me. Pretty please? -_-

Whoosh!

__

Why is everything so dark?

Whoosh!

__

Where the hell am I?

Whoosh!

__

And what the hell is that damned noise?

Faye Valentine opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the bright light. She saw a pale blue ceiling with cracks and holes in it. She looked to her right and saw a door....and a pair of feet on the other side.

Faye jumped up. Or at least tried to. Something was pinning her down. 

That something was the bathroom toilet. 

She groaned as she saw the handcuffs binding her wrists to one of the toilet pipes. She was still in the ladies bathroom at Joe's Tavern. And that certain noise had been people flushing the toilet.

"Shit," she mumbled and sat up straight, stretching out her cramped back. "That bastards going to pay for what he did." 

Faye leaned forward until her head came close enough to her hands. She fumbled through her hair for a loose bobby pin and she found what she was looking for. Placing the tip of the bobby pin in the keyhole, she skillfully picked the handcuff lock and stood up from her spot. She walked out of the bathroom stall and over to the sink where she looked at herself in the mirror. She was a wreck. Her hair was matted down with sweat and blood from the impact from the gun. 

Turning on the water, Faye cupped her hands under the steamy liquid and splashed it on her face, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

Just then, something popped into her brain. She quickly reached down to her holster, but found that it wasn't occupied with her gun. "Shit!" She yelled, slamming her fist down on the sink. Then something else popped into her brain. She always carried a stun gun. Now if he only left it.... Bingo! Faye reached into her bra and pulled out a mini stun gun. It was much smaller than usual and it was the best on the market. It was specially designed for bounty hunters. Faye's thoughts went back to her gun tough. She really needed one badly. The number one rule of bounty hunting is 'always have a gun.' Everybody knew that.

__

What a good first day of bounty hunting. First you get caught by a sexy but very disturbed man, second, you get your gun taken away from you, and third, you wake up in a bar bathroom. 

Geez, if she was given a penny every time each of those three happened...

After cleaning herself up, Faye stumbled out of the bathroom, using the wall as a support. She received stares from the people in the bar, but ignored each and every one of them. Except this one guy...he was rambling on about some kind of bounty...

"Yeah, Spike Spiegel," his gruffy voice said to the bartender. "Can you tell me where he is?" 

The bartender responded to the man, pointing to the doorway. The larger man nodded his thanks and headed out the door.

__

Now's my chance. Faye thought. She followed him out of the bar and into the dark deserted parking lot. There was a street light overhead, but it kept flickering on and off every few seconds or so. This made Faye feel a little bit uneasy. She couldn't see the man anywhere. 

Taking slow deliberate steps, Faye began to walk in between parked cars and ships, trying to spot the man. Unfortunately she couldn't even see her hand if she extended it out in front of her face. "Now where'd he go?" she wondered out loud. 

"You mean me?" a gruffy voice responded. 

Faye spun around and was greeted with the large man she saw in the bar. She still couldn't see his face clear enough, but she could make out his form. 

"What do you want?" he asked lowly to her. 

She didn't say anything. Instead, she just turned around, hoping to get away. 

But something clamped around her wrist, locking her in place. 

Faye looked down at her wrist, then at the man. His grip was unbelievably tight. And it was unbelievably cold and hard. She stared down at his hand some more. The flickering street light gleamed over the two of them and she gasped. His arm was a metal prosthetic. 

"I-I didn't want anything," Faye said softly. She pulled away from him, trying to get free. His grip just tightened. 

"Liar, liar," he said, teasing her a bit. The man just looked at her for a second, then released his grip from her arm. 

Faye brought her hand to her chest, rubbing it with her good one. _Now, that's gonna leave a mark_ she thought to herself. 

"Now, what were you saying about a bounty?" She asked him. Maybe if she just asked nicely, she could get some information. 

The man peered down at her. "What's that you say? Are you a bounty hunter?" The disbelief in his voice made Faye's anger rise. She just grit her teeth and replied calmly. 

"No. I think I used to know the guy everyone's looking for. All I heard was his first name and I wanted to find out if it was him." Faye took out a cigarette, popping it in her mouth. She heard the man in front of her grunt a little and she handed one over to him. He took it gladly. 

"Well, there's not much known about this guy. His name is Spike Spiegel and he's wanted for hacking into one of the galaxies most exclusive syndicates. Just his luck that they made his bounty a 'dead or alive' situation. Basically it means that he's a dead man walking. The 2 million on his head is gonna cause some competition between bounty hunters." The man paused. "So, do you think you know this guy?"

Faye nodded. "Yeah. It sounds like the guy I used to know. But do you know where he is?"

He nodded once again but paused. "Hey, are you gonna tell me your name or what?" he asked. 

Faye's poker face softened for a second. "It's Faye."

"I'm Jet," he said. He extended his hand to her and she took it reluctantly. "Nice to meet ya."

Jet took a drag from his smoke and let it out through his nose. "Well, the guy in the bar said that he was here less than two hours ago, so he couldn't have gone that far. My guess is that he's just hiding out around here, waiting for all the bounty hunters in the bar to head on out." 

Faye nodded. The information he gave her wasn't of much help because she already knew most of it. She wanted exact locations at that exact time. 

"Well, Jet," Faye said in her most sexiest, deepest voice, taking a step closer to him. "Thanks for helping me out there." She brought her arms around Jet and brought her face close to his. So close that their noses her almost touching. 

Then all of a sudden:

Bam!

Jet was out like a light. 

As the large man fell to the ground, Faye smirked and placed her stun gun back in her bra for safe keeping. She tried her best to roll Jet over and she grabbed two of his guns from his holster and a wad of woo longs just in case. 

"Thanks, Jet. And you're right. There _is_ a lot of competition."

Now aboard her ship, Faye started up her engine and began to hover in the air. She took Jet's theory of Spike still being close in consideration and turned on her headlights. She hovered over the trees and aimed them down, sweeping over the area. 

She squinted hard to see if she could make out anything. There was nothing down there for all she knew. And even if Spike was down there, his deep green hair would just help him blend in even more with the trees. 

Faye scowled a bit a headed north. She didn't know why she headed north. It was just a gut feeling. 

As she sped through the dark Mars terrain, Faye could feel herself getting sleepy. She shook her head to clear it and really wished that she had grabbed a drink before she left the bar. Her eyes trailed down to the dashboard and her eyes widened. There was a small piece of paper sitting there. Faye reached down and took the paper in her hands, struggling to read the writing. The dark didn't help either. She squinted harder. 

"Watch....the....roll?" Faye struggled to read it. The handwriting was far too sloppy. She read it again as a street light came overhead. "Watch the road...." 

She thought for a second and then looked up. Another ship was coming at her full speed. It bound closer to her. Faye steadied her course, holding her breath. If it was a game of chicken he wanted, it was a game of chicken he was getting. 

Faye pushed her ship faster and faster, daring him to crash into her, whoever it was. But she had a pretty good idea. 

And she was right. She could see Spike's face perfectly from the cockpit. That's how close the two were. He had a strange glimmer in his eye and for a second, Faye wondered if he was going to move or not. 

"Come on, move," Faye whispered to herself. Though she kept a cool exterior at most times, Faye sometimes panicked over the smallest things. 

Spike still bound faster. Closer, closer, closer, and closer. 

Until they were too close for comfort. Faye swallowed her pride and yanked the controls of the ship down. Not soon enough though. The tail of Spike's ship cut into her right wing, severing it in half and sending her into a nose dive. 

"Shit!" Faye mumbled. She pressed a few buttons, trying to get the ship under control, but nothing worked. She slammed her hand against the control panel as the ground came closer and closer. Faye thought of other things she could do to save her, but everything seemed totally pointless. 

Looking to her right, she saw her safety belt. _Better than nothing,_ she thought. She hurried and strapped herself in, praying to God that these things actually worked and actually promising to God that she would continue wearing her seat belt if she survived this. 

"Come on, pull up," Spike had been saying from his cockpit as he watched the girl's ship go into a nose dive. He didn't mean to actually kill her or anything. But what could he do now? He couldn't chase after her ship and catch it like it was a baseball or anything. Everything was totally out of his hands. Spike continued on forward, ignoring the sound of her screams. 

Faye screamed as the ship came in contact with the ground, skidding on the pavement at first, then going into 7 consecutive flips causing parts of her ship to go flying off and then finally screeching against the cement until it came to a slow agonizing stop. 

Her screams didn't stop when the ship did though. She was still screaming out of terror, but then when she realized that she was alive, her screams turned confusion, then relief. She sat there in her cockpit trembling and silently crying from her near death experience. 

After about five minutes, Faye moved from her spot, unbuckling her seat belt. She stared at it and smiled at the inanimate object. "I got to get out of here," she mumbled to herself. Using her elbow, she hit the glass frame, breaking it so she could get out. When there was enough room for her to get free, she pulled herself through the window, disregarding the glass that went cutting into her flesh. She fell to the pavement and crawled away from the wreckage, pulling out a cigarette to calm her nerves. 

She held the lighter up to her face and she felt a dizziness come over her. She fell to the ground, still conscious, but very, very tired. Her cigarette fell out of her mouth and rolled next to her eye. She looked at it and scowled. 

"I really wanted that cigarette," she muttered, too tired to even try to retrieve it. And before she knew it, she was out cold. 

A.N.: Sorry, this was a little short. I usually like to make my chapters longer, but my brain isn't working too good at the moment and I need something to eat! I hope you liked the second chapter thought. And gimme some reviews! Thanks to those who already did!


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